The recent wheat crisis in Pakistan has the potential to become a major problem that can cause a civil war in Pakistan. It is not a temporary problem that would subside in a few months but a permanent problem which needs to be addressed with international help to avoid food riots. I have worked in the supply chain of government wheat stores. The stored wheat has a prescribed safety stock level. Once the wheat volume goes below that level, the government reacts by buying more wheat. In this case, though, the government never got a chance to react to the lowering of the safety stock. Instead, it had to react to a colossal wheat shortage that was caused suddenly and inexplicably. I don't know if this was a mistake by someone or a more complex problem. Similarly, the government is not taking into account the worldwide shortage of food at the moment. Nor is it taking into account the mass movement of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan in spring, high demand of wheat in Afghanistan and the greed of Pakistani flour mill owners. All of these factors are effecting the wheat supply in Pakistan and all of these factors need to be addressed separately and quickly. To avoid a crisis, the government needs to assess the following; 1. Root cause for the sudden wheat crisis in Pakistan. 2. Better control on goods movement to Afghanistan. 3. Request UN help in starting new supply chains for supply of goods into Afghanistan. 4. Better monitoring of wheat and other food item stocks in Pakistan to improve response time. 5. Harsher punishments for smugglers of food goods.-SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER, Peshawar, via e-mail, April 30.